THE GAME BREEDER 



81 



contents of stomachs of specimens has 

 proved, almost entirely on small mam- 

 mals, principally rats and mice, wild and 

 tame. Though too small to engulf a 

 grown house rat, a "Milk Snake" can 

 absorb an entire brood of infant rats at 

 one meal. It is improbable that these 

 serpents ever swallow the eggs of pheas- 

 ants, quail or other game birds. That 

 these serpents milk cows or rob the 

 spring house milk crocks of the farmers 

 is an absurd but long cherished myth. 

 A reason and an object for this com- 

 munication is that the indiscriminate 

 slaughter of harmless serpents by pain- 

 ful processes promotes cruelty to ani- 

 mals in general, instead of kindness and 

 consideration. Every one of your 

 readers and members is more or less a 

 naturalist; let them tell us what facts 

 they may know or learn about the re- 



lations of serpents to the breeding of 

 game. 



The benefit from the food habits of 

 the "Milk Snake" and several other ser- 

 pents to game breeders is undoubtedly 

 considerable, for the rodent, most prolific 

 of mammals, takes a heavy toll of game 

 bird food, grain, particularly, and rats 

 are both egg-eaters and slayers of young 

 chickens and young game birds. This 

 is meant to be a hint or suggestion to 

 stimulate thought, observation and in- 

 vestigation by and among your readers 

 and members which should eventually 

 result in greatly needed contributions to 

 science and practical benefits to game 

 breeders, hunters and eaters. It is sent 

 with a deep appreciation of the efficient 

 work of the Game Conservation Society 

 and of The Game Breeder as an ad- 

 vocate and enlightener. 



HOW TO ORGANIZE A GAME BREEDING ASSOCIATION. 



By D. W. Huntington. 



We have a great variety of game 

 breeding associations, game clubs and 

 shooting syndicates formed to look after 

 the game properly and to provide good 

 shooting during long open seasons. We 

 have also thousands of game breeders 

 who can supply stock birds and eggs in 

 large numbers and the number of indi- 

 vidual commercial breeders is increasing 

 rapidly. 



Several hundred game clubs are more 

 or less intimately associated with the 

 Game Conservation Society. All take 

 and read The Game Breeder and they 

 are willing at all times to furnish infor- 

 mation about their organization and 

 their game breeding methods. We 

 often procure invitations for those about 

 to start to visit clubs which are suc- 

 cessful and see how the work is carried 



on. 



We have published numerous illus- 

 trated stories about these clubs and we 

 shall publish a hundred or more similar 

 articles about the clubs and game farms 



which always have an abundance of 

 game and game fish. 



Often we are asked to help start new 

 game breeding associations and to give 

 advice about the organization and about 

 the game breeding methods. Some of 

 the successful clubs rely almost entirely 

 upon hand-reared game, chiefly pheas- 

 ants and ducks ; some have an abundance 

 of quail grouse and rabbits bred wild 

 in the fields and woods. Some of the 

 duck clubs own or rent marshes where 

 many wild ducks come in the autumn; 

 others have small ponds and lakes 

 where both wild and hand-reared ducks 

 are shot every season. A few of the 

 clubs have wild turkeys, and at one of 

 them, The Woodmont, a large number 

 of wild turkeys is shot every season. 



Before proceeding to discuss the best 

 methods for forming game breeding as- 

 sociations, I wish to call the attention of 

 those seeking information on this sub- 

 ject to the fact that in States which have 

 enacted our game breeders' laws it pays 



